App surveys are changing the way that companies gather data, making it easier than ever to get feedback from customers and measure consumer perspectives. In the past, no matter how hard a business may have tried to get feedback from customers, the success rate was low. Customers are in a hurry, so filling out a comment card by hand or taking the time to make a phone call can seem like too much to ask of a customer who is always on the go.

But what do these “on the go” customers all likely have in common? A probable response is their cell phones. Over half of Americans have smartphones, a statistic which is growing every year. This is where app surveys come in. App surveys are done through – you guessed it – a smartphone application and they are usually completed in just five questions or less.

The idea here is that mobile technology can improve what other marketing channels cannot. Committing to a 15-minute survey or writing a paragraph-long review can often be too intensive for a consumer who has already mentally moved on from their experience with your business. But a five-question survey completed via a streamlined phone app may seem a lot more manageable to many consumers.

While some may argue that app surveys are simple by nature and therefore can only gather a small level of detail, proponents of app surveys say that sometimes simpler is better. Especially for small and medium-sized businesses who are focusing on gaining market share, it is possible that the potentially simple insights gained through a short app survey can make a big impact on the company’s operations.

The beauty of a simple app survey is that the results will be easily actionable. For example, through an app survey, you (or the appropriate person in your company) can instantly be notified via text and email of negative responses from customers, so that the situation can be immediately addressed. Assuming your business can respond to this negative feedback quickly and in a satisfactory way, your business can then avoid any negative commentary in a public venue, such as Yelp or Google.

As you know, word of mouth is a very powerful tool. App surveys can contribute to customer retention by helping you keep your current customers happy, as in the example we mentioned above. But, imagine if an unhappy customer was not given an opportunity to complete an app survey. This customer may take to venting their frustrations online, via Yelp, Google, or some other public forum. Bad word of mouth is hard to recover from and nearly impossible to ignore. If that customer had been given an app survey, the company could have addressed their negative experience before it became an issue, putting good word of mouth marketing in place of bad.